


Eternal

by Elizabehta_Beilschmidt



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Romance, Urban Fantasy, hurt/comfot, young adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26111308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elizabehta_Beilschmidt/pseuds/Elizabehta_Beilschmidt
Summary: Elizabeth was a very old vampire, used to changes and tragedies, used to adapt to the evolving world. When one night she searches for a distraction she finds someone as lost as she is, a human man that sparks an interest in her. But will that be enough? Would she risk involving him in her ageless world?
Relationships: F!VampirexM!Human
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

You know? I never thought about my life or what I would do with so much time on my hands. When I was proposed to be what I am now, the thought of what my life would be in five hundred years in the future never really crossed my mind. I could barely guess what could be of me a year in advance, maybe five years, but not five hundred. Or a thousand.

I never really dwelled on the thought that I would live _forever_.

That’s a scary word, because it implies an eternity living with yourself, with your mistakes, and sometimes that’s enough to make you think twice about it. But I didn’t. And for a while I didn’t regret it. I was young, powerful, eternal; I could be whoever I wanted to be, whatever I wanted to be. My price? Becoming an infamous mystery, a legend, forever blamed for crimes I didn’t commit; but it is something I am willing to pay.

The regret? Not so much.

Because as I now see his face in front of me, the soft light of the moon coming from his window, his pleading eyes full of dreams and youth, all I can feel is sour regret. I have seen this face many times and this request has been asked of me in so many ways. I have lived this moment more times that I wanted to, having to go on with the regret of my mistake. And I will live forever with it.

Was I willing to try it again?


	2. Midnight Blood

She didn’t know for sure why she chose _this_ place. Maybe the irony was too good to let it pass, maybe she was feeling funny tonight, maybe she needed something new after Suzie. Yeah, it has been a few years and they were speaking from time to time, but the look on her ex-lover face that last day was still haunting her.

“ _Midnight Blood_ ,” Elizabeth whispered reading the neon lights on top of the sketchy door of the club she was going into, looking for something to eat. “Huh, quite fitting.” 

She resisted the urge to put her hands on her ears and showed her fake ID to the big man at the door, smiling for a very different reason that the many youngsters around her. If this man tried to push her away he was in for a few broken fingers. But nothing seemed out of place in her, she made sure that she looked just like a woman of her apparent age would wear to a themed night club in a big city, a _vampire_ themed nightclub; including spikes, blood red corset and “fake” fangs. She had to give credit to these new generations, they are almost on point with the whole set up, but still humans have so much to learn.

Inside was no surprise; loud electronic music and jumping (dancing?) young people and not so young people, enjoying a night out where they were safe and not judged by their hobbies. Lately, vampires were mixed with the gothic subculture and almost everyone into one thing was on the other, so along with _Nosferatu_ classic attire she could see the whole chains-and-bats and big mohawks with white makeup and creepy body modifications. _That_ was something she could not understand. Why would humans wish to be something they are not? Every vampire she had met was comfortable with they body; some more religious were worried about their damned souls and all that jazz, but never with their bodies.

Thinking about that, Elizabeth approached the barwoman serving drinks to the vampire-wannabes in the bar, and checked that no other from her species was out hunting here, mixed with the humans, so there was no need to fight tonight. She was the only undead there, so she proceed to find a suitable, delicious human to feed from the crowd. 

And that’s where she found him, alone, with a half finished cold beer in his hand, a retro vampire costume on with the cape and everything, a content smile on his face as he watched the people, just like she was doing. He might be used to do that, she thought, because he didn’t look nervous or at unease at all. Maybe that’s why he noticed her looking at him, a weird glint in his eyes, like he knew that Elizabeth wasn’t a regular at that place. The boy smiled a encouraging smile and gave her a friendly wave before getting back to his warming beer. He sipped and looked at the crowd again. Was he avoiding her piercing red eyes? She knew they gave quite the scare to humans, but here Elizabeth saw so many fake red eyes that she discarded the thought immediately.

The vampire raised a brow to this. Who was this human and why was he so weird? Just when she was considering going to him and ask if he knew something, he looked at her with that content smile that got wider when he discovered that she was staring at him. Encouraged, he walked away from the wall decorated with bats and various posters of vampire films and framed costumes, original costumes, of classic characters portraying the vampire race. This place must have cost a fortune, Elizabeth thought barely registering the giant chandelier hanging from the tall ceiling, the flashing lights reflecting in every direction, reminding her of the disco balls back from the 80s. Damn, weren’t those the times.

_ Focus, _she told herself when the boy was almost in front of her. If she was human, he may need to get nearer to hear anything he wanted to say, but because she wasn’t such a thing, Elizabeth could perfectly hear him tell himself to “get a grip” and “breathe, she isn’t going to bite”. Well, that may depend on what he was going to say, she thought. 

“Hi”, he finally said, his voice barely wavering and full of a confidence that his pulse told her otherwise. She smiled. First impressions were important, and if she was so lucky to find a suitable “donor” so soon, she needed him to trust her enough to bring her to his house.

“Hello,” she said loud enough so he could hear her above the music, “sorry I was being creepy a moment ago. Your costume is just amazing. I’m Elizabeth by the way.” She held her hand, which he shook with a bit too much enthusiasm.

“William.” he smiled. “And thank you. Yours is pretty good too.”

The vampire smiled widely, for a moment forgetting to hide her fangs. But he noticed and his eyes lighted up with wonder. Those were the most realistic fangs he had ever seen.

“... Then I told him, ‘Dude, The Vampire Chronicles from _Anne Rice_ , not that teenager drama’!” he laughed and sipped from the second or third beer of that night, he couldn’t remember very well. “The look on his face was priceless.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Elizabeth smiled, but from a different reason than the funny story the boy was telling her. He was perfect. Living alone, went out frequently, no friends here… The only thing was that he wasn’t trying to get into her pants, yet; or at least not so rushed like many other men she had fed from. That was something she wasn’t proud of, but men were more easily manipulated into hooking up in their house. Usually they didn’t get to their second drink of the night.

“Am I boring you?” he said bringing her back from her musings. “Sorry, I tend to ramble about these things a lot. My friends tell me that all the time.”

_ This is so cute_, she thought. A fang poked from her red lips when she gave him her legendary half smile, seductively placing down her untouched drink on the counter and repositioning her legs in a sensual way. His nervous look down didn’t go unnoticed. The blood rushed underneath his skin on the neck, painting his face a healthy rose color as he realized that she was flirting with him. Maybe he was a _boy_ after all, he looked really young, and for a moment Elizabeth felt guilty. She promised herself to never feed on children so long ago that she couldn’t remember how much time has passed since that day. 

“Are you… Are you interested in me?” he asked in a low voice, as if he was afraid that someone was listening to their conversation. A funny thought indeed, because the club was so loud despite the late hour, but he seemed really shocked by the thought.

“Maybe, maybe not. It depends.” He gulped loudly.

“On what?”

“On if you are willing to get out from this place or not. I think I’m going to spontaneously combust from the human heat,” she changed the topic. She needed to get out soon or someone would die, literally. She hadn’t eaten anything in weeks and the hunger was unbearable, and she had been around humans for too long inside a poorly aired building. It was driving her crazy. William gulped again, her eyes following the inviting movement of the veins on his throat.

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a second.

“Are you claustrophobic or something?” he asked while standing up. Jackpot, the vampire thought. “I know this place can get on your nerves sometimes. The people are kinda weird and the drinks aren’t worth what you pay for them.”

“Then why do you come here?”

“I guess I enjoy watching other people have fun. I don’t usually come alone, but tonight I needed some changes in my.. eh, routine.” William scratched the back of his head, probably uncomfortable with the topic.

“I can relate,” she laughed thinking about the irony of the situation. That’s exactly what she had thought when she came here. Maybe this boy was what she needed right now to forget Suzie. Something different, something fresh.

It was a shame that he wouldn’t remember her tomorrow. 


	3. When life gives you lemons

When they arrived at his apartment building, William was shivering from the cold and rubbing his hands together to keep some of the heat and Elizabeth adjusted her newly acquired coat to make it look like the freezing air of that november night affected her like any other human. The conversation continued almost one-sided through the nice walk, the boy talking about more vampire culture, his life, his friends, and the latest trends in technology. She listened to every word, partly because it has been a while since the last time someone dared to talk so much to her without fear or distrust in their eyes, partly to focus on something else than the blood calling to her. So far she was resisting pretty good. It may be her new record.

The elevator ride was long and quiet, William shuffling uncomfortably with his keys, making the blood go faster and making the vampire beside him restless. She needed something and she needed it fast. 

As they went up the few remaining floors, she forcefully grabbed his dark blonde head with a bit too much force and crashed her lips against his. A surprised gasp escaped his lips, but he answered nonetheless with equal enthusiasm, seemingly expecting them to kiss sometime in the night. So she wasn’t the first one he brought to his apartment, she thought, used to luring people in one night stands to suck their blood. But something very deep inside of her kind of expected him to be different. She was tired of this society of hit and run, that the charm in seduction was gone and that the old ways of courting existed only in cheesy historical books. 

She liked seduction, she enjoyed the courting, bantering and the gifts and the pampering. It was sad that she couldn’t do that anymore. But, hey, at least this method guaranteed a fast way to find food, she reflected while biting, no fangs involved, the lower lip of this man who was going to be her victim tonight.

The sound of the elevator brought her out of her musings, reminding her that she was supposed to get into his bed before getting to the juicy part. Elizabeth couldn’t help it, he was really involved in this. 

“We should go…” the boy said, a clear blush in his cheeks but managed to keep his cool. Yep, he was used to this, but didn’t seem like the type who went to bars to find a one night girl. This was different, this was fresh. Just what Elizabeth wanted.

“Yeah,” she smiled, encouraging him to take the lead. Men always felt more at ease if they led, that was something that, while she could comprehend, didn’t like. 

They walked in silence to the end of the hallway and she barely admired the fine decorations, too raptured by the sweet and warm scent of the blood inside this human, calling her and tempting her, almost making her break her personal rules in hunting. Finally, he opened the door and let her in first, reminding her of the old days when men threw at her feet to gain her praise. 

“Maybe you’d want to be more comfortable?” His voice snapped her out of her long lost memories and Elizabeth looked at his smiling face while he pointed at a chair in the big table in the equally enormous living room. The decoration was pretty simple and neat, almost something you could see in a magazine, void of personality; but still she could sense it wasn’t made in any cheap materials. Woah. He must be rich. Jackpot, she could even get some cash, as rich boys didn’t usually miss a few hundred dollars. Even if they went to the police about it, since they couldn’t remember her, she wasn’t ever caught stealing.

It was weird. He didn’t strike her as a typical rich boy in the club, so why wasn’t he wearing expensive clothes and passing his time in a more exclusive party center than that vampire theme place? He was such a mystery, one she wanted to solve. It was a shame that he wouldn’t remember her in the morning.

“Yeah,” she finally said, shedding her big coat with a seductive look. He gulped and did the same. “Now, show me where this bedroom of yours is, darling” she winked, smiling at the perspective of finally having her meal. She was _so_ hungry.

“Come with me,” he took her hand and pulled her gently to a corridor she didn’t see at first. His heart was running wild in his chest but he still kept his cool, something she found kinda cute, and was glad to have the luck to find a nice boy for feeding. At least this wasn’t making her even more stressed. An obnoxious rich daddy’s boy was the least she needed right now.

He then opened a door to what she assumed was his room, neither saying a word while deep in thought, and got inside. Elizabeth tore her eyes from her victim from tonight only to find her in front of… herself. Well, not _her_ , but a really big poster of _“Carmilla, the Vampire Queen”_ , a movie she clearly remembered was released some years back, when this wave of vampire-mania was starting to take shape. In the poster, a really pretty actress, who was an _actual_ hungarian woman, for once they got something right, was dressed in fine clothes that reminded her of her youth, with heavy makeup to make her paler than was humanly possible, red lipstick and everything.

She liked that movie. It was badly made in a lot of things, but at least they honored the legend of the Bloody Countess really well. 

“Elizabeth?” the young man called her, actually making her jump. What a fail. If she wanted to impress him this wasn’t the way.

“Oh, sorry, I was admiring this nice poster you have here.”

“Oh yeah, Carmilla! It was a nice movie, but really poorly made in my opinion. At least they got some things right from the legend.” 

She turned away from the poster and was going to say something, but the words died on her throat. She barely registered that the room was almost as big as the entire living room, but that wasn’t what enraptured her attention, no; what really rendered her speechless was the giant collection of vampire material all over his room. Books, posters, original costumes, storybooks from animated adaptations, manga, anime, props from movies that were older than William. Anything and everything you could think of about vampires, he had it.

“Yeah, I had accumulated a lot of trash, as my friends call it,” he said nervously, trying not to see her in the eyes, ashamed. 

“I… see…” she said, her mouth wide open. She knew about vampire enthusiasts, people who believed that vampires were real and lived their lives hoping to be one, hoping to catch one. She knew vampires that had found some of them, eaten them or kept them after all. She didn’t like them. They took the thing of vampires way too far and Elizabeth considered it an insult. The “vampire-maniacs” only focused on the blood drinking part, taking it to the sexual field, something she could not share. “You like vampires, I assume.”

“Well, yes. I have always liked vampires. It’s silly, isn’t it?” he smiled, finally making eye contact. Elizabeth was too shocked to see the sad tinge on his hazel eyes, as if he was waiting for her to run away.

“Why?” she said, breathing deeply. Her thirst was still there and it was almost impossible to ignore anymore. But she wanted to know if he was like those people she only heard stories of. Why did she want to hear it from him? She wasn’t sure. It was almost like she wanted to get rid of the guilt of erasing the memory of someone so kind.

“Well…” she waited for it, for the fixation on blood-feeding, “I always found it mesmerizing, you know? Living forever, with the power and means to see and do whatever they wanted. When I was a kid I wanted to be able to do what I wanted, travel where I wanted to go,” he approached an original set of fangs from _Nosferatu_ , as it was labeled, his back to the very real vampire in the room. Her eyes shined red with hunger and Elizabeth prepared to jump for it. “But,” he added, “what I was interested in when I grew up, and I still do, is the irony in it. It fascinates me. What would it be like to live forever, watching the world change without you? Being able to see it evolve, but while being unchanged? Dunno, it seems kinda sad. But I haven't met any vampire so I can’t ask.” he laughed a bit, a humorless laugh, and Elizabeth froze in her place. His words resonated deep inside her chest, in a place that few had ever reached, and that scared her. 

Who the hell was this man? And how could he voice her very own thoughts with so much ease? Part of her wanted to kill him, as her instincts always guided her, while the other part was sad that she was going to make him forget her anyway. 

_It is a shame that he won’t remember me._

Her own thoughts stopped her this time. It was the third time she thought that tonight and it made her realise that _she didn’t want to erase this boy’s mind about her._ She wanted to keep talking to him, see him again, maybe even be friends. She had found humans like this before, different people ahead of their own times with different mindset from the ones of their generations; people who really wanted to look ahead in the future and find their own path. She enjoyed talking to them. 

And this boy, William, who she initially considered a little more than a snack, had made an impression on her. She had to admit, it was rare. And the vampire didn’t eat such interesting people.

So she did the best thing she could do in this situation. She fled through the window.


	4. Don't make lemonade

Elizabeth rushed through the streets at full speed, barely realising that she had left her coat in the human’s house, not caring anymore about appearances and looking human anymore. Her mind was full with thoughts about the mistake she had just made, her heart beating a mile per hour in her chest, thinking that she shouldn’t have let her emotions guide her actions. 

“ _Fuck,”_ she cursed while slowing down. She was really hungry now and nothing was helping her in containing her inner beast. Slowly, her mind focused on the hunger and only the hunger, the urge to sink her fangs on _anything_ with blood on their veins, and she felt her body revert back to the state all vampires go under high pressure, guided by their lowest and more basic instincts. 

Her nose caught a delicious scent in the air. Human. Right now she didn’t care about seductions or looking human or even talking. She wanted blood and wanted it _now_. And this poor human was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“What the-!” she heard the scream of the cold homeless person sitting by a burning trash can, probably trying to sleep at this late hour, in a filthy lonely dark alley where even in the bright daylight no one would dare to look inside.

A part of her mind wondered what she looked like to the man. A demon, maybe? Her reflection on his wide eyes as she grabbed his cold arm only gave her information she already knew, bright red eyes and very visible fangs poking out of her lips. Was the man religious? Was he able to understand what was happening as his blood calmed her primal state? Did he have someone who missed him at all?

She breathed some of the cold air when she dropped the now empty body at her feet. Her consciousness slowly came back like turning up the volume on a radio, and Elizabeth realized that she had killed the man. 

She sighed. The world already had so much death and killing people was simply not her style; but it was her fault by not feeding properly and the vampire felt guilty for it. 

“I’m sorry,” she murmured at the empty alley. No one answered.

* * *

“You did _what_!?” 

“Let him leave without erasing his memories,” Elizabeth sighed for the tenth time, her voice muffled by the palm of the hand she was leaning on. She tried to look away from the eyes of her friend seated on the other chair of her kitchen table, afraid to face her wrath.

“Yeah yeah, I heard that the first damn time. Oh damn, Elizabeth, you really fucked it up bad now,” the other vampire in front of her puffed some smoke from her mouth, telling her that Lucy was _really_ angry. 

“I didn’t know what to do, ok? He said something unnerving and I… snapped. I didn’t want to erase his memories, Lucibelle, and it seemed like the best course of action.”

“‘Best course of action’ my ass, Eli.” The tiny vampire groaned and leaned back on her seat, careful not to touch the very flammable delicate wood of the ancient chair, “And don’t call me Lucibelle.” 

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Don’t worry. You are one of the few that know it anyways,” the vampire sighed. “There are less and less ancients on the active lately.”

“I heard about that,” Elizabeth was grateful by the change of topic. “I wonder what is happening for them to go out of reach.”

“Dunno. At least Jonathan keeps his phone on this time. But the others, not a beep.”

A comfortable silence established between the two friends, each one on their own thoughts. The older vampire’s red eyes coursed through the spitfire in front of her, grateful to be able to call her a friend. Lucy, as she liked to be called now, has been living with her for a few years now and was there with the whole ordeal of Suzie. 

The vampire looked no older than a kid, around fifteen, but in her own time she was considered almost an adult, already promised to an abusive much older man, sold by her own family for money. She had told Elizabeth that she didn’t resent them, as she could see now the logical decision in that exchange; but still, when she found out many years after the incident that they died in the Great Fire of London, she just smirked at the irony of the situation. 

Their friendship was a strange one, their personalities so different and coming from very different worlds, but somehow they connected through dark humor and valued the opinion of the other’s. Lucy’s snarky comments had saved her from more than one dangerous and probably fatal situation, and her advice during the worst break up of her life helped her go on.

Something she respected about Lucy was her ability to adapt to the changing world. She was even jealous of it. Being forever a teenager wasn’t easy, and she knew of really nasty experiences her friend had decided to share, but the golden eyed vampire surpassed every hardship and got out of them stronger and more powerful. She wasn’t known as the ‘Fire demon’ for anything, after all, and it wasn’t only because of her one-of-a-kind fire powers.

“What do you think he might be feeling right now?” said vampire asked, bringing her out of her musings.

“Probably angry. And betrayed. And kind of spooked.”

“Well, yeah, no one disappears like that. No one _human_ , at least” she gave her a disappointed look.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” Elizabeth put her hands in the air in defeat, looking back at the golden intensity of her friend’s eyes. “I’ll fix that.”

“You’d better.”

* * *

A whole week had passed and Elizabeth was burning with regrets. Being inside everyday didn’t help at all, reading wasn’t working for her right now, and when she tried to play any game of any kind, her attention dispersed to her very brief encounter with the strange human. His words when he talked about his obsession with vampires still burned in her brain like coals, consuming her until the need to know more about what he thought about her kind grew almost as big as hunger.

It was a cruel flaw of hers, that insatiable curiosity. She always wanted to know more, to know why, how, when of everything; and while it helped her find some valuable people on her life (she tried not to think about Suzie, as it was her damn curiosity what attracted her to the human at that time), it had led her to almost get killed a few times.

So that’s why she found herself once more on the queue of “Midnight Blood” with her corset and gothic-like makeup, trying to choke down the blood she just had from a random hooker on the street on her way to the club. She had just the bare minimum and the woman was okay after she wiped her memories, only a little winded. Nonetheless, she bought her dinner.

“Your ID, lady” said the big man watching the door, his hand open and waiting for her. The vampire blinked and handed him the card, barely listening to the angry whispers behind her. It seemed that she was slowing the line. “Go.”

She thanked him in a low whisper and got in the club, her ears already hurting from the loud music playing in the enormous speakers by the stage. Tonight, a group was playing some kind of grunge-ish rock, big mohawks and shiny outfits accompanied with white makeup and thick eyeliner. The lady that was singing was really into the song, eyes closed, murmuring the words of the lyrics to the microphone and making gestures with the hands as if trying to touch something that wasn’t there. It wasn’t her style at all, but she could see the sentiment in the woman’s face as she sang about a lost love and despair. She respected that.

The vampire shook her head and focused on finding one human in the sea of human flesh dancing and moving at the rhythm of the music. She looked at the veranda on the second floor, maybe hoping that he was there waiting for her. It was silly, but she really wanted to make an impression on him like William did on her. Maybe he wasn’t as curious as she was? Maybe he _was_ really angry and didn’t want anything to do with her?

_ Oh my God,_ she thought, panicking. She thought she saw him for a moment, her sharp eyes catching a glimpse of dark blonde hair in the distance. _What am I going to say?_

A second look confirmed that it was him indeed, and to the utmost horror of the vampire, he was looking back at her and seemed really angry. She gulped.

Slowly, mostly because of the mass of humans bouncing around in the dance floor that didn't let her pass easily, Elizabeth walked to the glaring human leaning on the wall, arms crossed. He looked disappointed, almost like he already knew what she wanted to say and was sad about it. She wondered what kind of betrayal had happened in his life to be like this.

“You,” he said when she managed to reach him, “have some explaining to do.”


End file.
